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CBS Films has unveiled the somber first trailer forLone SurvivordirectorPeter Berg’s Boston Marathon bombing dramaPatriots Day, which relives the events surrounding the terrorist attack and the resulting manhunt.Mark Wahlbergleads the cast as a police officer working the event, reuniting with Berg for the third time on a true story drama about American heroes afterLone Survivorand, most recently, the BP oil spill thrillerDeepwater Horizon. Berg has certainly found a bit of a niche with these kinds of projects, and his documentary-style camera work that was so prevalent throughoutFriday Night Lights(he directed the pilot and served as executive producer) looks to suitPatriots Dayjust fine, bringing the audience into the middle of the action with an immediacy that serves to highlight the fear and horror surrounding the event....

Now that you’ve had a chance to dissectJ.J. Abrams’Star Wars: The Force Awakens, you might be left with a few questions about particular plot points or editing choices made throughout the film. One of those questions might just involve Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and his odd and ominous choice of decoration in an interrogation room on Starkiller Base. I’m talking, of course, about the table of ashes that Ren uses to hold his helmet during a scene oppositeDaisy Ridley’sRey....

You don’t have to look far to find good action cinema these days. While studios remain firmly focused on their blockbusters, the DTV action market remains a booming industry of grizzled ass-kickers and action veterans. We got three MCU entries this year, and they all lived up to the franchise standard of stunning set pieces,Steven Spielbergreturned to blockbuster filmmaking and took on his own legacy with the ambitious crowd-pleaserReady Player One, andChristopher McQuarriebecame the first director to return for aMission: Impossiblesequel and ended up delivering one of the greatest films in the franchise....

As far as villains go, Zoom onThe Flashwas pretty underwhelming. Whereas in season one you actually had Harrison Wells (or Eobard Thawne, if you want to get technical about it) conflicted about undermining the team, and while he always put himself first, you could sense that he did have some admiration for the S.T.A.R. Labs folks. Meanwhile, Zoom was basically just, “I’ll get your speed, Flash!” But maybe we got an interesting mutation at the end of last season when it showed Zoom transforming into what appeared to be Black Flash....

With recent world events shutting down theaters and pushing films back into a TBD phantom zone, both audiences and pop cultures alike must look to streaming and VOD for that sweet, sweet Content. The new release options are, admittedly, bountiful. You could take in a clever, timely horror film withThe Invisible Man. You can bask in a sultry forbidden romance withPortrait of a Lady on Fire. Or you can be like me, my friends, and descend into the milk-stained phantasmagoria known asCats, the musical directed by an Oscar-winner, adapted from a Tony-winner, and only understood fully by the sleeping dread god Cthulu....

Don’t go to aDerek Cianfrancefilm looking for characters to end up happy. There may be moments where a family is a whole, but it’s like a beautiful vase falling to the ground, moments away from shattering irreparably. Cianfrance has explored this shattering effect in his previous two films,Blue ValentineandThe Place Beyond the Pines, and he returns to it in his latest effort,The Light Between Oceans, a story where one family’s happiness is stolen from another’s....

Beware: Spoilers ahead forThe Lighthouse! After 2015’sThe Witch, it’s no surprise thatRobert Eggers’second film,The Lighthouse, is a major conversation starter and, to a degree, open to interpretation. Since catching the movie at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, I’ve had countless conversations about the varying analysis of the film’s curiosities like the use of the seabird, the mermaid and so much more. If you haven’t already checked it out,Vinnie Mancusojust posted a great piece exploring how myth and symbolism come into play - be sure to check that outright here- but now we’re putting the focus on some “answers” Robert Eggers himself gave....

The MCU needs Doctor Doom. Not to take anything away from the MCU’s next big bad, the super villain known as Kang (Jonathan Majors), who is set to take center stage with the release ofAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania: Kang’s fine, with his MCU arc beginning with the final episode ofLoki’s first season. It’s where we meet theKang variant He Who Remains, whose death makes the Sacred Timeline split into the multiverse, where the once defeated multiple Kang variants rise again, which includes the Kang the Conqueror variant set to cause grief for the MCU going forward....

One of the most enduring franchises in science fiction,Planet of the Apes, has become entrenched in the pop culture zeitgeist for more than just itspioneering makeup artistry, unparalleled use of CGI, andits iconic plot twists. While these reasons all contribute to the series' tremendous critical and commercial success, it would be a moot point if the stories told in these films lacked heart and humanity. Despite being on another branch of the evolutionary tree, the apes in thePlanet of the Apesmovies aren’t the inhuman beasts that certain characters label them as....

Of all the ways in whichAbel “The Weeknd” Tesfayecould’ve responded to claims that the set of his upcoming HBO showThe Idolhad descended into chaos — the most logical options being an apology or a denial — he chose to address it in maybe the most bizarre fashion possible. Hours afterRolling Stonepublished a report about how the six-part series had “gone wildly, disgustingly off the rails,” Tesfaye took to social media and shared a short video in which he, along with co-starsLily-Rose DeppandDan Levy, all apparently in character, dissed the publication....

As part of the Halloween festivities on Saturday, the team for Netflix’sThe Witchercleverly slipped new Season 2 footage into an otherwise unassuming clip set to the tune of “Monster Mash.” The clip is, by and large, a highlight reel of the monsters Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill) faced in Season 1. While many of the beasties are familiar from their Season 1 appearances, there were two new foes waiting to be spotted in thisWitcherfootage....

Get your hairspray and eyeliner ready, becauseThis Is Spinal Tapis making a comeback. Longtime fans of the heavy metal spoof have been rewarded today, as it was announced by Castle Rock Entertainment that a long-awaited sequel to the cult classic film has been greenlit, withRob Reinerreturning as both the film’s real-life director and its fictional documentary counterpart, Marty Di Bergi. StarsMichael McKean,Harry Shearer, andChristopher Guestare also set to return as the members of the headbanging band....

One of themanynew series to premiere on Netflix this year isThe Umbrella Academy. Based on the Dark Horse Comics series of the same name created and written byGerard Way(yes, he of My Chemical Romance) and illustrated byGabriel Bá, the show follows a group of estranged, super-powered family members who have to come together and work through their personality quirks to solve the death of their father. When I was in Brazil attending CCXP recently, I got to sit down with Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá to talk about the series....